Carl Yastrzemski: the last batter to capture Triple Crown: it's been 41 years since a hitter led his league in homers, RBI and batting average, a feat accomplished only 14 times in baseball history

Baseball Digest, June, 2008 by Ben Walker

CARL YASTRZEMSKI DIDN'T KNOW he made history until he read about it in the newspaper the next day.

The son of a Long Island potato farmer was too wrapped up in the tight 1967 pennant race, strange territory for a Red Sox team that finished ninth in the American League the previous two seasons.

So when he turned to an inside page of his Monday paper--the headline about Boston's first pennant in 21 years was on Page 1--he saw the news: Yaz wins Triple Crown.

"I had no reaction," he says now, more than 40 years later. "I was ecstatic about the World Series and the pennant."

With each passing season, the scope of his accomplishment grows. Through those 40 years not one player has combined the power and productivity to match his feat--leading the league in homers, RBI and batting average.

Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez have topped the A.L. in all three categories, but never in the same year. The same with Barry Bonds. David Ortiz of the Red Sox was first in the A.L. in homers and RBI in 2006, but hit just .287. Todd Helton paced N.L. batters with a .372 average and 147 RBI in 2000, but finished second in the homer race with 42, eight shy of league-leader Sammy Sosa's 50.

"The combination of all three, it's hard to do," Rodriguez said. "Usually, guys who are thumpers for power hit .260, .270. Usually guys who are .330, .340, those guys hit 10 or 12 home runs."

Last season, A-Rod won the A.L. home run and RBI titles but had no shot at the batting title, won by Magglio Ordonez.

Only 10 players have won the Triple Crown. Ted Williams and Rogers Hornsby did it twice. Mickey Mantle won it in 1956 and Frank Robinson in 1966.

Willie Mays? Hank Aaron? Never.

Babe Ruth? Close. He led the A.L. in batting average and homers in 1924 but was second in RBI with 121, eight behind Goose Goslin.

How about the minor league infielder who switched to left field to replace Williams but who hit only .266 as a rookie in 1961 before making the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 19897

That's Yaz.

And he's proud of what he did.

"Oh, without a doubt. Forty years is a long time," he said. "If we didn't have that intense pennant race and I thought about winning the Triple Crown, I probably wouldn't have won it. When you think about hitting a home run, you usually don't do it."

Over the last 44 games, the Red Sox were never more than one and a half games ahead or behind.

Baseball is a different game today from the one in 1967. There are 30 teams instead of 20. The designated hitter adds a batter to the lineup, often a slugger. Strike zones were larger, favoring batters like Yastrzemski, who could hit a variety of pitches.

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The mound was higher, making pitchers more dominant but not affecting Yastrzemski as much because he was a good hitter of fastballs thrown over the top.

"I could hit the high fastball," he said.

And he could do so much more. Besides the Triple Crown, he led the A.L. in runs, hits and total bases. He won a Gold Glove and made the Red Sox winners after eight straight seasons with losing records and poor attendance.

"He's still the best left fielder I've ever seen," said Ken Harrelson, a teammate in 1967 and now a Chicago White Sox broadcaster. "I call him 'The Renaissance Man' because he was definitely the renaissance of baseball in New England."

Yastrzemski hit .326 for his second batting crown, tied Harmon Killebrew of Minnesota with 44 homers--each connected in the next-to-last game but Killebrew walked 40 more times that season--and drove in 121 runs.

"I had no awareness whatsoever" of the Triple Crown, he said. "I was so focused on beating Minnesota those two games."

The Red Sox achieved "The Impossible Dream," the name given to their pennant quest, but lost the World Series in seven games to St. Louis.

That summer, Tom Werner arrived in Cambridge around Labor Day for his freshman year at Harvard. Now a Red Sox owner, he listened to the last two regular-season games on radio.

The Red Sox began that Saturday a game behind Minnesota then beat the Twins twice. But there was still a chance they would face a one-game playoff with Detroit. But the Tigers lost the second game of a doubleheader later that Sunday in Anaheim.

Yastrzemski went 7-for-8 in those two games.

"If there was one situation that you could pick anyone at anytime to bat for you, I would pick Yaz in '67," said Werner, who sneaked into one of the World Series games with his college roommate.

Harrelson had a much better view of the two games against Minnesota--from the on-deck circle as the cleanup hitter. Ten days after Tony Conigliaro was beaned on August 18, Boston signed him following his release by the Kansas City Athletics.

"I played nine years in the big leagues," Harrelson said. "I've broadcast over 4,000 games. The best clutch hitter I've ever seen in my life is Yastrzemski. He was just phenomenal."

Rico Petrocelli played shortstop on the team that finished 40 games out of first place in 1965 and drew fewer than the 5,933 announced fans for its last game--and 100th loss. He was still there when 35,770 watched Yastrzemski in the finale two years later.